Last call for Brides Across the Bridge!!

This year I've had the honor of being one of the sponsors  for the Foyle Hospice's 'Brides Across the Bridge' event.  Last year, myself, my staff, members of my family and hundreds of other women (and one man!) took to the streets of Derry in wedding dresses and set a world record of 748 brides making it the largest gathering of brides in history!!

The Foyle Hospice were delighted to not only have raised thousands of pounds, and to get the Guinness Record, but to top this they picked up The Institute of Fundraising - Fundraising Event of the Year Award earlier this month.

The craic was ninety!!

The people of our city and from beyond (they are coming from miles away to take part!!) will be taking to the streets this week again to celebrate in their dresses. The event takes place this Saturday the 5th July 2014 at 3.30pm at the Guildhall Square and once again a stream of brides will parade over the Peace Bridge in their wedding attire.  It costs £10 to register to take part (or £5 for 'mini-me' brides - children are welcome to come along in their little dresses!!) and the hope is that we will raise thousands more this year and re-capture some of the magic we had at last years event.  And for those who couldn't make it last year, it will be a chance to get to be part of this great event and to have a bit of craic in their wedding dresses too.  The atmosphere was electric last year and if it's half as much fun as it was then, then you'd be mad to miss out!!

Get down to Foyleside ladies!!

For those of you who have decided last-minute to take part and need to go searching for a dress, there will  be dresses to hire out at the pop up shop opposite DV8 on level 2 of Foyleside Centre on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of this week (see the Brides Across the Bridge facebook page for more details.)   The dresses were donated by our own shop, as well as from local shops such as Austin's and The Bridal Showroom.  Lots were kindly donated by the public, and I had boxes of dresses sent over the Irish sea - kindly donated to me by Giselle, Sarah, Cheryl, Linda and Laura who all own Bridal shops and wanted to help out.  There were about 60 dresses in total and about half are hired out already, so get your skates on this week if you want to get your hands on one!

Follow this link for more details and for the pop-up hire shop opening times. 

Brides-Across-the-Bridge facebook page - click here

Best of luck to the Foyle Hospice and I hope that everyone taking part has a fab day.  I'll be wearing my mum's wedding dress (my granny bought it for her this time 40 years ago and my parents will soon be celebrating their Ruby wedding anniversary) 

I'd love to hear about you and your wedding dress!!!  Leave a wee message below and tell us what you will be wearing on Saturday :) 

xx Ciara
Beautiful Day Bridal Cottage

www.beautifudaybrides.co.uk

Put on a wedding dress and help break a world record!!!

What are you doing on the afternoon of Saturday April 27th?

How would you feel about dressing up as a bride and heading for the Peace bridge?  

When I first heard about the idea I thought it was a great fun way of attempting a world record, but it made it even more worthwhile doing when I heard that all proceeds were going to the Foyle Hospice.

We're helping to spread the word to see if the Foyle Hospice can gather at least 2013 'brides' together, and the response we've had so far from our customers, friends and family has been unreal!!  Loads of our past brides and brides-to-be have decided to take part (any excuse to get a wedding dress on!!) and we've even had a few who have started fitness regimes to get into their own dresses which are a bit on the tight side!!   (I didn't stand a chance of getting into mine but my mum is currently working on letting the seams out, so fingers crossed!!)

You don't have to be a past bride to take part - as long as you are wearing a traditional wedding dress (from any cultural origin).  And if you haven't got a wedding dress, perhaps you could borrow one?  Or hit the charity shops perhaps?   Our shop has donated 5 big boxes with 20+ wedding dresses and veils to the Foyle Hospice to try and do our bit - they will be available very soon at the Foyle Hospice fundraising centre on the Culmore Road for any of you who are on the look out for a dress, and all proceeds from their sale will go directly to the 'Brides on the Bridge' fund.   I'll be on the lookout to see how many Beautiful Day dresses I can spot on the day!!!

Like many families in the North West, our family has availed of the services of the Foyle Hospice.  My daddy's sister - my aunt Mamie - spent almost 3 months there before passing away.  It was 9 years ago, but our family always feel indebted to the hospice for the kindness shown to her and the dignified way they dealt with her suffering and her passing.  I remember being shocked when I discovered how much the hospice rely on donations from the local people and when I got to see first hand what they do each and every day, it's easy to see why it is so well supported in our area and why it needs to keep being supported to continue making a difference.

So get on that dress, get your £10 and your registration form (and some extra sponsorship if you can) and get down to Ebrington square on Saturday 27th April and help make a difference.

You can register by contacting the Foyle Hospice-  visit their facebook page

click here to go to the page

Or you can call in and pick up a form in our shop.  You can also register on the day if you came along a bit earlier.